[Introduction] Website analysis is still new, so there may be various biases in our understanding of it. This article summarizes various common misunderstandings about website analysis that I found in my work. This is part two, and this part goes into some more detailed territory. For the first part, please see: Top Ten Misunderstandings and Alternatives to Website Analysis (1)
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Let’s continue talking about common misunderstandings in website analysis.
Myth 6: The higher the bounce rate, the worse the page quality.
Generally, everyone thinks that Bounce Rate is used to measure page quality. Generally speaking, this is correct, but it cannot be said that a high bounce rate must be caused by poor page quality.
First of all, bounce rate is not only determined by page quality, but also affected by traffic quality. To take an extreme example, if your page copy is very tempting, but all visitors do not understand Chinese, your landing page will still have a high bounce rate. Therefore, we cannot always blame the page itself for problems.
Secondly, some landing pages themselves have very little traffic. For example, there are only 10 visits in a month, and 6 of them leave immediately. A bounce rate of 60% is not statistically significant.
Therefore, when we see a high bounce rate, we need to analyze two aspects at the same time. My most commonly used thinking method is:
1. Check the match: What are the attributes of the website traffic source? Why do they come to your website? What content is provided to them by the web page? This, I think does not require any website analysis tools, as the owner of the website (site Everyone should be aware of this. Regarding the matching issue, please refer to my other article: The second of the 10 major misunderstandings that affect website conversion rate (Part 1). When the attributes of the traffic itself do not match the content of the landing page, there will often be a higher bounce rate.
2. Check whether there is traffic fraud. This problem mainly occurs on the websites of brand advertisers. For e-commerce websites, every traffic is worth a penny. If there is cheating, it is a serious problem. Fraud traffic is fake, and relatively low-level fraud traffic will definitely cause a high bounce rate. Website analysis is the best tool to detect cheating. A friend once mentioned his achievements in traffic cheating. I really hope that he can "return to his old business". He will attack and I will defend, and we will "be the best".
A common way to check for traffic fraud is to segment traffic sources. Of course, there are other fixing methods, which I dare not announce rashly as my trump card. In this field, the masters are as good as the demons! I hope no one wants to hunt me down.
3. Check the page. If there is nothing wrong with the traffic itself and they are indeed your target group, then there is nothing to say. Just check the page quality. Of course, you should still pay attention to the method when checking the page. It is recommended to follow the following steps:
Any technical problems that may exist on the page, such as slow loading, abnormal display, invalid programs and plug-ins, etc.
Heatmaps – Used to discover points of potential interest to your visitors, as well as points where you thought they would be interested but didn’t achieve the desired results.
Visitor demand analysis - internal search analysis, external search analysis, questionnaires (such as 4Q questionnaire), mouse trajectories. In fact, the heat map mentioned above itself is actually a kind of demand analysis method. If the demand does not match the page content, the bounce rate must be high, indicating that the page quality is poor.
Under-fold analysis (under fold refers to the content on the page that cannot be displayed on the first screen and needs to be pulled up to display. Omniture SiteCatalyst has a very good under fold data report) - is the attractive content not directly displayed on the page? Above the fold for a significant portion of visitors?;
Are the elements on the page that guide users, especially the Call To Action (element that calls on users to take action, such as please click the registration button) friendly enough? Please refer to my other article for this content: 10 Misunderstandings that Affect Website Conversion Rates (Part 1) ), and the sixth point of Top 10 Misunderstandings Affecting Website Conversion Rates (Part 2).
Now, I hope you can have some deeper understanding of bounce rate.
Misunderstanding 7: Confusion between website analysis tools and advertising monitoring tools
Website analysis tools and advertising monitoring tools generally do not focus on one tool. Although our country does have such "integrated" tools, in general, website analysis tools and advertising monitoring tools are "wells and rivers", each with its own characteristics. of heaven and earth.
Needless to say, website analysis tools, Google Analytics, Omniture, WebTrends, CoreMetrics, XiTi, etc., monitor visitor behavior within the website (On site). In addition, these tools provide some common basic models to display the monitored behavioral data.
Advertising monitoring tools, here refers to Internet display advertising monitoring tools, are used to monitor the display (ImPRession) of advertisements, clicks, the number of cookies corresponding to advertisements (used to analyze the frequency of advertisement display and clicks), and the location of advertisements. Website (publisher), etc. Typical advertising monitoring tools include DoubleClick, which Google successfully acquired after a lawsuit with Microsoft a few years ago, Microsoft's Atlas, free OpenX, Eyeblaster developed by an Israeli company, and China's own Allyes and AdMaster, etc.
My experience is that website analysis tools focus on post-monitoring analysis, which is more difficult to analyze; ad monitoring tools focus on clarifying the format and related concepts of online advertising (such as Ad Serving and Ad Tracking), and transforming these concepts into Generally speaking, the specific settings of the tool are not difficult, and the analysis is not difficult. After all, the interaction that can be done on an advertisement is far smaller than the interaction on a website. Of course, Richmedia (rich media) advertising is also more complex and requires careful implementation, but in my mind, compared with advertising monitoring tools and website analysis tools, the latter is a more "high-end" tool.
Website analysis tools are often combined with ad monitoring tools (note that they are not combined). Some unions are simple unions, such as the Link Tag implemented by Google Analytics' UTM code, and Omniture's Saint tool; some are very powerful system integrations, such as the Genesis tool provided by Omniture, which can be integrated with systems such as DoubleClick and Eyeblaser. Integrate the data from the advertising monitoring tool directly into the website analysis tool. This tool can also be integrated with the enterprise's ERP, CRM, sales management system, etc.
Of course, if we understand website analysis from a broader perspective, the tools needed for website analysis include some competitive intelligence website analysis tools, such as Alexa, iUserTracker of iResearch, the famous foreign Compete.com, Google Trends for website, As well as Google DoubleClick Ad Planner and more.
The last thing I want to emphasize is that ad monitoring tools can also implement part of the website traffic monitoring function, which is how many ad clicks are actually converted into page views. Website analysis tools can also monitor ad exposure or clicks. As long as you understand how website analysis tools work, you can find a way to make the ad load while also requesting a 1×1 pixel on the website analysis tool server. The picture will do. For details, please click: "Cloud" Monitoring: Vertical Website Analysis (Google Analytics For Taobao). Philosophically speaking, there is no absolute in everything, and this is also true for website analysis tools and advertising monitoring tools.
Myth 8: Choosing a website analysis tool is the first step in website analysis
Website analytics tools are constantly emphasized by users, and rightly so. If a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools. But before you choose a website analytics tool, wait a minute!
Understanding the business is the first step in website analysis.
For example, Aviva (not Aviva China), they always ask me, please tell me what we should monitor, and it is sometimes difficult for me to answer. For an insurance company, I believe they understand the uniqueness of their own business better than I do, such as which is more important, Get a Quote or Retreive a Quote - which online user behavior is more meaningful to their actual business. It may not be useful to directly transfer Allianz's method.
If you clearly understand the key points of your business, then website analysis is half the battle. The rest are technical issues - the website analyst will find the key behaviors on the website that correspond to these business points, and then target these key behaviors. Just choose a targeted website analysis tool. There’s nothing fancy on the site, there’s always a tool to suit your needs. And understanding what you really need is the most important thing. In this regard, I have seen one real estate online website do a very good job because they know what they want, which is really half the battle.
When it comes to tools, I would like to say a few words. I always emphasize that tools are only the beginning of website analysis. It is just like buying meat and vegetables at the wet market and taking them home, but they are not Chinese delicacies. You need to use your own wisdom and experience to make dishes that satisfy your wife and children. Website analysts are a very, very promising industry, especially today when China's Internet marketing is gradually moving from extensive to sophisticated. In the past, people only focused on the money invested in marketing and the money received after the things were sold. Today, people realize that there are actually many places in the process between the two ends that can be artificially promoted or controlled. Earning 5% is a profit, and earning 10% is a profit. Why not earn more? Website analysis allows you to earn more - of course, you need a reliable analyst to help you analyze and optimize this process. The tools give you only the raw materials, and the masters make them into exquisite dishes.
Myth 9: Direct Traffic is direct traffic
Direct traffic is good traffic. Generally speaking, this traffic represents people who are truly interested in your website. Google Analytics can automatically record direct traffic, as can other website analysis tools.
However, don’t think that all of this traffic is really direct traffic. For Google Analytics: all traffic sources (referrers) that cannot be identified are classified as direct traffic. In this regard, Omniture is more rigorous. For traffic whose source cannot be identified, it represents direct or unidentified traffic, thus avoiding misunderstandings. If you use GA to monitor traffic sources, and you spend money to buy traffic but do not mark the purchased traffic, a large amount of Direct Traffic is likely to appear. This actually means that your traffic source analysis is basically impossible, and therefore you can no longer optimize your traffic purchasing strategy. Therefore, be sure to keep your Direct Traffic pure.
Myth 10: Third-party cookies are inferior to first-party cookies
Cookies are required for website analysis using page markup and serve as a link between visitors and analysis tools. Cookies are divided into third-party cookies and first-party cookies. It is good for everyone to grasp the difference between the two. That is, third-party cookies are cross-domain. That is to say, if a visitor visits Sina and then visits Sohu , are still recorded as a visitor; and the first-party cookie cannot cross domain, and the cookie belonging to Sina can only belong to it. If the visitor visits Sohu immediately, then this first-party cookie cannot be recorded To the behavior of users visiting Sohu.
Once you understand this, you will understand that third-party cookies are not necessarily inferior to first-party cookies. The advantage of third-party cookies is that they can monitor the behavior of cross-website visits. For our friends who analyze marketing effects, this feature is a great benefit. First-party cookies are not so wonderful.
Therefore, I must point out that first-party cookies are definitely not as functionally powerful as third-party cookies, and third-party cookies are actually a very good solution. So, why do many foreign experts still recommend the use of first-party cookies? There is no other reason. Because of their powerful functions, third-party cookies have raised concerns about privacy violations among the public. First-party cookies receive less criticism because they can only record visitor behavior within a website. Therefore, many people have set their browsers to a higher security level and disabled third-party cookies.
However, in China, some things are not like that, and people do not care about privacy so much. Therefore, the situation of third-party cookie ban in China is not so pessimistic. How well do your website visitors support cookies? It is recommended that you try JYC analysis. This tool can not only analyze how many people have disabled cookies (first-party and third-party), but also see if javaScript is disabled. For details about my experiment, please click: How much impact do Javascript and Cookies have on GA?
Well, this episode has come to an end again. But this series is not over yet. In the next episode, I will introduce some other frequently asked questions: Is File Log the most accurate method of website analysis? Is the longer the Time on site and the deeper the Page depth, the better? Does website analysis make sense for individual (compared to overall and sampling) analysis? What is the understanding of Recency? How to set up filtering in GA (maybe a special topic)? How to implement website analysis (and some basic Principles)? Ha, there are quite a few!
Article Source: Website Analysis in China
Editor in charge: Yang